


Bandersnatch

by infinitejcst



Category: Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Compliant, Choose Your Own Adventure, Metafiction, Multi, POV Second Person, i said what i said and i stand by my tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 07:37:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/infinitejcst/pseuds/infinitejcst
Summary: You know the script by now. You are going to eat cereal (doesn’t matter which one), go to Tuckersoft while listening to music (doesn’t matter what kind of music), and you will then meet your idol, Colin Ritman, and present to both him and Mohan Thakur your wildly ambitious video game.You are presented with a choice.Do you:GO FOR A LIFE OF MIDDLING MEDIOCRITYorTEMPT FATE OVER AND OVER AGAIN?





	1. the beginning

**Author's Note:**

> hello. this was made through twinery and, for the most part, i'll just be copypasting from there. it's really not advisable to read this as a "chaptered" work as my uploading schedule will be erratic and, for the most part, successive uploads probably won't be in the same timeline either. 
> 
> this is equal parts a modern!au, a not-modern!au, and maybe not an au at all. spoiler-free trigger warnings include: canon-typical delusions, dissociation, derealisation, drugs, and violence. i hope you enjoy and, since this is my first time writing a CYOA, i'll appreciate any and all feedback.
> 
> this work is also NOT completed and is still far off from being completed. however, i do have it all structured out in my head (a miracle) and all that's left is filling in the blanks in between. i just posted this to get a feel of how this site will handle a CYOA and, when everything's said and done, i'll plug in the twinery link as well.
> 
> last but not least: i _really_ recommend turning off the see entire work option as it'll really kinda mess up with the whole vibe.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is how it starts.

This is how it starts: a movie gets released—only it’s not a movie but a game, or a movie that’s like a game (or a game like a movie, depending on how you parsed it).   
  
Then again, that’s not where it really starts, because where (or more accurately,  _when_ ) it starts is the day you're supposed to pitch your game to a well-known video game publisher. You wake up after dreaming about your dead mother for the umpteenth time, go to the bathroom and down the medicine that was supposed to stop you from dreaming about your dead mother (the success of which has, as has been noted, middling), and go downstairs to have breakfast with your father, who pretends that everything is all well and good between you.  
  
You know the script by now. You are going to eat cereal (doesn’t matter which one), go to Tuckersoft while listening to music (doesn’t matter what kind of music), and you will then meet your idol, Colin Ritman, and present to both him and Mohan Thakur your wildly ambitious video game.  
  
You are presented with a choice.  
  
Do you: [GO FOR A LIFE OF MIDDLING MEDIOCRITY](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245339/chapters/43170170) or [TEMPT FATE OVER AND OVER AGAIN](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245339/chapters/43170146)?


	2. 28th december, 2018

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the 28th of December, 2018. What other date could there be?
> 
> You're a college student in this instance.

It's the 28th of December, 2018. What other date could there be?  
  
In all the relevant paths, your name is Stefan Butler. You are nineteen years old and you’re living with your father. You’re trying to make a video game. Your mother has been dead for quite a long time now.  
  
These are the constants. You’ll find that there are many variations that can be had in your life, but these are the things that never changes.  
  
You're a college student in this instance. You're still living with your father, although you've been thinking about moving to student housing. The only problem with that is that student housing can be so goddamn expensive, and your father certainly won't shoulder the cost, and all your money is being spent on video games and the like.  
  
You're going to some university in London, where you're studying computer engineering. Your dream is to one day make it big in the video game world, but not with those blockbuster-like video games like  _Grand Theft Auto_  or  _Assassin's Creed_  or anything like that. What you want is to be able to tell a  _story_ —but you don't know what for. You don't want an RPG, that's for sure, because the storytelling in video game RPGs is downright atrocious. (So much for  _roleplaying_ , you guess.)  
  
In fact, if anything, you consider yourself old school. You're a fan of text adventures, no snazzy graphics or anything like that. You think the experience's the best part about gaming: not the effects or even the escapism it offers to people, but the opportunity it gives you to vicariously live through the experiences of others.  
  
That's what you want to do with your game, which you're about to present later today. You're trying your best not to think about it, because you're pretty sure you'll make yourself sick with anxiety, so you scroll on your phone and check at the feed of all your social media accounts.   
  
As you scroll, you learn that there's this cool new video game you've heard about. It's called  _Bandersnatch_ —only it's not a video game at all, but a film released by Netflix. It's just been released today, apparently, and it's all everybody could talk about. There's a curiosity that lights up in you. You want to watch it but you don't have a subscription.  
  
What do you do?  
  
Do you: ASK A FRIEND TO WATCH IT WITH YOU or HACK INTO SOMEONE'S ACCOUNT or [SEARCH THE PLOT ONLINE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245339/chapters/43175960/)?


	3. sisyphean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does it say something about me as the author for not giving you the freedom to explore these choices?

This isn’t how it’s supposed to pan out, though. In every universe, you try again after failing. You know how this all turned out, after all. Why bother fighting fate? You are going to wake up again on the 9th of July, 1984 to present your video game to Tuckersoft. Even if you say yes to their offer of making a streamlined game over and over again, you will reset again and again and again.  
  
Even Sisyphus had a more satisfying narrative than that.  
  
I suppose that says a lot about you, doesn’t it?   
  
Or does it say something about me as the author for not giving you the freedom to explore these choices?  
  
Do you: [KEEP ROLLING THE BOULDER UP THE HILL](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245339/chapters/43170170) or [FOLLOW THE SCRIPT](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245339/chapters/43172825)?


	4. 9th of july, 1984

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the 9th of July, 1984. What other date could there be?
> 
> You choose. In the general fabric of reality, _this doesn't matter._

It's the 9th of July, 1984. What other date could there be?  
  
Your name is Stefan Butler. You are twenty years old and you’re living with your father. You’re trying to make a video game. Your mother has been dead for quite a long time now.  
  
These are the constants. You’ll find that there are many variations that can be had in your life, but these are the things that never changes.  
  
You're not exactly doing anything much. You just live with your dad, that's all. You're working on a game too, which is not to say anything much. Still, it's your passion project and practically the only thing that's keeping you entertained and filling your days with something to  _do_  with. Your dad's becoming all impatient, but you find it hard to care about what he thinks or what he even does. Your relationship, suffice to say, isn't that great. It never has been, even before your mother... you know,  _died_  and everything.  
  
You don't think about that much. You prefer not to think about that at all.  
  
Your father readies breakfast for you, because in his head, he thinks this will make up for the absence of your mother. He asks you which you like: Sugar Puffs or Frosties?  
  
You know your choice. You start to point—only then, you hesitate, just a tad. You feel like something else isn't... well not exactly  _controlling_  you, but guiding you, more like. It's like how those caretakers don't tell their elderly patients where to go, but their arms are there to just  _gently_  guide the elderly where they need going.  
  
You choose. In the general fabric of reality,  _this doesn't matter_.  
  
Or maybe it does. Maybe it's the most important choice and you've just been thinking about it the wrong way. Did it occur to you  _not_  to choose?  
  
But you can't  _not_  choose, because then there wouldn't be much of a story, wouldn't there?   
  
Do you: GO TO TUCKERSOFT or WORK ON YOUR GAME?


	5. google search

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You have all the pieces but you can't quite fathom where to start solving it.

This is the modern era now. Of course you're going to search for the plot online. You pull up the mobile browser app on your phone and your fingers immediately type  _Black Mirror: Bandersnatch_ , with proper capitalisation and everything.   
  
The thing is, it doesn't give you much help. It's just been a day ever since it released and while there are already flowcharts and guides on how to get all of the endings, reading all of it seems to be a doozy. It seems that most viewers are still confused too, all of them still trying to work out if they've  _really_  gotten all the endings or if there's something they overlooked. You consult Reddit, which is as you expected: that being, chaotic, hectic, and full of segues and non-sequiturs and unrelated comments. They drop comments that reference moments in the show that gets lot of upvotes but leaves you none the wiser. It just helps you get at some of the details without you understanding how they make sense together, kinda like a puzzle where you know how it's supposed to look like and you have all the pieces but you can't quite fathom where to start solving it.  
  
You tap the home button, trying to forget about the whole thing, but it doesn't quiet leave you as you thought it would. You could either try to distract yourself by working on your game until time comes for your meeting at Tuckersoft—  
  
_(—and here something tickles at the back of your brain—)_  
  
—or you could just put the gauntlet down and actually  _watch_  the whole thing.  
  
Do you: FORGET ABOUT IT AND WORK ON YOUR GAME or TRY TO WATCH IT SOME OTHER WAY?


End file.
